Thoughts From Luke - Day 63

                                                     Luke 13:10-17, 14:1-6

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, ¹¹ and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” ¹³ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
¹⁴ Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
¹⁵ The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? ¹⁶ Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her
¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. ² There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. ³ Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” ⁴ But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
⁵ Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” ⁶ And they had nothing to say.

  Has it ever occurred to you that if you are a mainline Christian that you are going to Church and observing a day of rest on the wrong day? The Seventh Day is Saturday, not Sunday!  Let's look at what Paul said about the Sabbath and what Jesus said, and then what Genesis says and try to make some conclusions.
    What did Paul say about the Sabbath. First of all, he never commands anyone to obey it. The 4th Commandment is the only one of the 10 that isn't re-commanded in the New Testament. In Acts 15 the Jerusalem counsel was convened to address the issue of the Gentiles being grafted in and since their lifestyle and customs were completely different than the Jews the two groups were butting heads. In order to get along, the counsel came up with certain essentials for the Gentiles and the glaring omission was the Sabbath was not on the list. Not only that but in Galatians Paul reprimands the new believers for going back to being in bondage to the old covenant laws particularly the Sabbath (Gal. 4:10). Why? Because Paul saw the Sabbath as a ceremonial law fulfilled in Christ. Just like the lamb sacrifices pointed to the Lamb of God coming and replacing once and for all the killing of animals that could never take away sin, so the Sabbath points to a rest from our work that was fulfilled by Christ's work on our behalf. I don't believe Paul wrote Hebrews but if he did, the author spells this out in Hebrews 4 where he states Moses couldn't give the Israelites rest because of their unbelief. Joshua took them into the promised land, yet David in Psalm 95 refers to a rest that they didn't obtain. This rest is given to us who can now by faith, rest from our efforts and striving and trust in Christ's completed work on the cross. (Eph. 2:8,9) This is why Paul says in Col. 2:16-17 ,

 "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. "

 The Sabbath day was a shadow that was cast by the reality - Christ. Just like clean and unclean foods were done away with in the New Covenant (Acts 10:15, Mark 7:19) so was the Sabbath. Paul even includes the Sabbath in his passage on debatable non-essentials in Romans 14. Along with food offered to idols was listed the Sabbath in verse 5. It had become a non essential and like alcohol, trick or treating, public schooling, birth control methods, Santa Claus, etc., it has now become a topic that Christians feel passionately about and actually divide us, but aren't clearly spelled out in scripture and aren't essentials.

       Now let's  look at what Jesus said about the Sabbath. Jesus certainly went to the synagogue on the Sabbath but it was the things He did on the Sabbath that really enraged the Pharisees. We see this first in Matthew 12 when his disciples picked grain as they walked through a field and were accused of harvesting. Jesus answered them with a very interesting comparison on how David and his men ate showbread when they were hungry and how the priests serve in the temple on the day of rest and it is OK. What is showbread? What is the temple? Who were priests? These were all fixtures of the Old Covenant - the ceremonial law destined to become obsolete when Christ fulfilled it. Isn't it interesting that Jesus compares the Sabbath to this? Then He says that He is Lord of the Sabbath and the Sabbath was made for man, not vice versa. Could you see Jesus doing this with a different commandment? "I am the Lord of Murder." "I am the Lord of Adultery". Wow, I feel blasphemous even typing that! Jesus would never say, "If a woman is unable to conceive because her husband is sterile, she is free to commit adultery because marriage was made for man, not man for marriage, or the laws of adultery were made to protect man not oppress him" This is foolishness. You see that Jesus saw this one commandment as completely different than the other nine. In this passage in Luke, Jesus is in the synagogue, so we see that He reinforces the need to be in Church on the Sabbath, but He once again doesn't re-command the 4th Commandment in the way that all the other ten are validated.

          Does all this mean that no day is different than any other day? You would almost think so except for one thing. Way back in the beginning, in Genesis 2:2 says

 "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."  

 Here we see, long before Abraham and the Old Covenant with Moses, God has given a principle to everyone that has been created which pretty much doesn't leave any of us out. We get some insight into what we were supposed to do by looking at the Hebrew word for rest. What this word really suggests is God looked at His creation and He stopped because it was complete. He was utterly satisfied by it. The Jews were to take one day a week and honor God for His perfection and His creation. In fact, I would guess this is how  the other nations knew them. They would probably  say, "These are the people that worship the God they think made the whole Earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th and that's why they take a day off - to honor Him" (Ex. 31:12-17 mixed with Acts 17:24-26)   However mankind sinned and the world was no longer perfect. Thus, God's resting was over and He went to work creating a plan of getting rid of sin and restoring perfection. This work was completed when Jesus rose from the dead and from that time on we see the believers worshipping on a new day, "The Lord's Day"(Rev.1:10) which was the first day of the week (Acts 20:7, John 20:19, 1Cor.16:2) honoring the God who rose from the dead that day (John 20:1) and could look on His work and say,  "It is finished". "It is complete"

  So, bottom line, what are we to do? I believe that since from creation there has been a special day to focus on, we should now worship and honor the One who created us, died for us, rose from the dead, perfected us, and restored us to a relationship with Him. We should also set our mind on the future time when this world which is moaning and groaning due to the curse of sin will also be restored at the second coming of Christ. How that manifests itself in you and your family is not to be legislated. We are slaves to the law that brings freedom. So go into Sunday with an attitude that this day is all about making Him special - I guess sort of like how we celebrate someone's birthday or Mother's Day. It isn't that they aren't special and loved every day, but this day, once a week,He is front and center and we should do nothing to distract us from that and do everything to aid in that.

Thoughts From Luke - Day 62

                                                      Luke 13:1-9

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
⁶ Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. ⁷ So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
⁸ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”


 In this passage Jesus deals with tragedies, natural disasters, the cruelty of man and the question of "If God is so powerful why doesn't He stop bad things from happening?" - in a unique way and maybe a way that we can use.

      Two listed tragedies happened around 30AD. One was a slaughter of some Galileans initiated by Pilate and another was a tower in Siloam had fallen and killed 18 people. Those two were well known around the area and they didn't even have CNN or newspaper or social media. Imagine all the bad things which happened that they didn't know about. As I look back on 2016, just in our area we had the wildfires in Gatlinburg which killed a similar number to the tower falling. Around the world there were earthquakes, killings in Syria, shootings in Charlotte and Orlando, and the list goes on. These usually leave us asking questions like, "why"? Jesus has a few comments on these why questions.

      First of all, He kind of hints at "why not"? I mean, if evolution is true and there is no purpose in life, no right or wrong, no reason for our existence, but we are cosmic accidents evolved by chance over hundreds of millions of years from primordial soup directed by mutations and survival of the fittest - we should expect death. Death is how our species advances. Obviously Pilate was a stronger, more advanced person who weeded out the lesser people. The tower falling on people weeded out those of inferior intellect leaving behind people who could build better towers. We are surprised by tragedy, and the reason the word "tragedy" even exists is that we have come to take for granted the goodness of God. We have come to expect the watering and the fertilizing of the tree but lament and blame God when the tree topples.

       Secondly, Jesus points to the inevitability of death. We all assume we are guaranteed or entitled to 80 years or so and premature death is unfair. This past year we had famous people who didn't make it that far from Prince to George Michael, Alan Thicke, Carrie Fisher, etc. and it shocks us. Should we be shocked by death? After all, 1 out of 1 people die. Do we live like we are immortal? Probably. Jesus replies to the effect of, "Why are you surprised these people died - everyone dies." We are shocked by death because something inside us tells us that death is unnatural - we weren't created to die. If evolution is true, we wouldn't have those thoughts but since we are created beings, we do. Jesus came to defeat death and hell and Satan, and to bring eternal life. Tragedies, "premature death", serve as a megaphone saying, "Things aren't right in this world. This world is broken. The Kingdom of Earth is not your home. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Trust Jesus. Repent of your sins. Enter into the Kingdom where death and evil have been defeated and live forever in Heaven with your Creator." The grace and mercy of God is giving you a little more time to come to Jesus but don't assume you have unlimited time. The time is now!

Thoughts From Luke - Day 61

                                                    Luke 12:49-59

 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹ Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. ⁵² From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
⁵⁴ He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. ⁵⁵ And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. ⁵⁶ Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
⁵⁷ “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
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            The Old Testament, which Jesus referred to as "the scriptures", was around at the time of Jesus' appearance on the Earth. In it, there were over 300 prophecies of the Messiah available to the people, especially the scribes and Pharisees and teachers of the law, pointing to Jesus being the chosen one. Even today, the Jews, who believe the Old Testament have complete passages like Isiah 53 and Psalm 22 which clearly identify Jesus and yet they miss Him. Why is that?

            First of all spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Jesus says to them, "How can you look at the sky at night and predict what the weather will be like tomorrow, yet you can't look at the scriptures and see that the Messiah has come"? It seems so clear doesn't it? If spiritual things were discerned with the brain, things like Scientology and Mormonism would have no followers. They are completely idiotic. Yet brilliant people believe them and give their lives to them. The Bible says that the god of this age, Satan, has blinded people's hearts and minds to the truth. Therefore, for people to understand the truth, a work of God, this fire that Jesus is talking about, the Holy Spirit, has to open one's mind. My favorite preacher, Andy Stanley, I feel is missing it lately on this point. He is such a keen mind and a gifted communicator (just ask him), that he feels that he can reason people into Heaven. Lately it's like, if something doesn't make sense, it's not important. Just accept the death and resurrection of Christ which are historical facts and follow the Guy who predicted them. The problem is at some point it requires a leap of faith - you have to admit that you are a sinner and deserve death because of it. You have to believe that Jesus is God, came from Heaven, lived a sinless death and died the death for you that you deserve. You have to take it as a free gift, not by works, be born again by the Spirit, and enter into a new kingdom even though your feet never left this planet. All that is spiritually discerned. No apologetics can convince you of that. Salvation in its essence is spiritual, not mental.

          Secondly people don't believe it because they understand the implications - it will rock their world. Relationships will end. If you are gay, that will have to end. If you are living together, that will have to end. If you are dating an unbeliever that will have to end. If you are a Muslim or Jew you will be kicked out of your family or worse. If you are working at a job that isn't God honoring, you will be out of work. If you have a peer group that routinely behaves in ungodly ways, you will have to leave the group, if they don't kick you out first. This is why Jesus repeatedly says, "count the cost". It's sort of like, as today is New Years and people are making resolutions, everyone could be thin if they wanted to. My partner at work lost 80 lbs. this year by switching to a Vegan diet and exercising. He was getting diabetes with some sequellae, and decided to lose weight. He counted the cost and did it. I could get thin but I am not willing to give up certain things, therefore I remain plump. Most unbelievers remain that way because they don't understand or don't want to believe the sequellae of being an unbeliever, eternal hell and judgement (55-57), and therefore the cost of receiving Christ is too great.

          Where does that leave us who are believers. I think we need to pray more for God to open the blinders of people's hearts and pray for people specifically. I do think we need to reason with people but also let them see a living example of how the truth works. Lastly, although it is unpopular and leads to self-centered salvation, we need to talk about sin, hell, and judgement. Jesus certainly did. He talked more about hell than Heaven. People need to understand that there is a cost involved in rejecting Christ both here (divorce, depression, anxiety, fear, lack of hope and purpose, fear of death) and eternally. We have to encourage people to "count the cost".

Thoughts From Luke - Day 60

                                                       Luke 12:35-48

³⁵ “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. ³⁷ It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. ³⁸ It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. ³⁹ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
⁴¹ Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
⁴² The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³ It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. ⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
⁴⁷ “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸ But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.


               It's the holidays, so I just watched Home Alone and little did I know there is a Bible verse for it -"If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into." Ha! I'm sure that Jesus wasn't being prophetic of a future Christmas movie so let's see what His thrust is in this passage.

            I remember High School gym class when we would have to do calesthenics like push ups while the gym teacher walked around the class of 100 guys. When his eyes were on you, you made sure that you were doing them proper but when he was at the other side of the gym, you dogged it. The same was true when working as a bus boy or summer lawn mower for the school district. I could certainly goof off a lo when the boss wasn't around but when he drove up, there was always a lookout saying "here he comes". Because I know that is in me, as a boss, I'm less bothered when I find my employees on Facebook, etc., as long as they are getting the work done. How can I demand what I couldn't give. But then, if there are employees that goof around all the time and don't get their work done - well that's another story. On the other hand, if there are employees whose work standard and ethics are so high that they don't entertain themselves on the boss's "dime" - well those are keepers. Those are the ones you know you can trust to handle even the money. Those are the ones you pay handsomely and elevate because they are operating by a higher standard.

            I think that Jesus is giving us a similar principle here. As believers who are now in the Kingdom of God (see the previous blog), we are serving a new master. The previous master was Satan who was so clever that we didn't even know we were serving him because he steps in the shadows and has us serve ourselves as we live for money, pleasure, comfort, lust, food, entertainment, longevity, power, prestige, etc. As long as we aren't living for God, he wins. But now we live for God. He is our master. He owns us. However, it is sort of like this 30 year old guy that my son is going to officiate his wedding. His dad owns lots of miniature golf courses, go-kart tracks, and tourist traps in the Southeast. His dad is a multi-millionaire. The son is working for the dad in some capacity with a modest salary in a small office helping his dad run the business. Some day the dad will give the son and his sister the business. However now he is basically just serving the dad. There is a love relationship there but yet a boss/employee relationship too. The dad would be disappointed with the son if the son didn't take the work seriously because that would be showing the dad and his business disrespect. The dad wants to see the son succeed and will do all he can to help him succeed and point him in the right direction and cut him some slack. But eventually, if he disdains the business, it would all go to his sister.

            I think Jesus' point here is not so much, "watch out because I'm coming back and if you aren't behaving well, you don't get to go to Heaven", but rather, here is how you identify if you are truly a son of God - a citizen of the Kingdom of God - if you have left "the matrix". First, we are eagerly, not fearfully waiting for His return because we are headed to a party (36-40). True believers are living "looking up for their redemption draweth nigh". We can't wait for the one we love to greet us, welcome us to the banquet table and say "well done, my good and faithful servant." Even though we are busy doing earthly work, we aren't forgetting that He is coming back soon and we keep one eye on the sky. Second, true believers are becoming more like Christ. Mark 10:45 says that Jesus came to serve and a true believer will be serving others. In fact, the clearest sign that you are no longer living for self and aren't part of Satan's kingdom, is that you are serving and considering others above yourself. If you are insensitive to the needs of others, are prejudicial, are hoarding, etc. you really can't be a transformed follower of Christ - you are still living for the Kingdom of this Earth. This sounds harsh and we all slide back into selfishness, but remember, just like the dad of my son's friend, his goal is to groom you not exclude you. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

         Father, as this New Year approaches, may I become less and less self-centered. Help me keep my eyes fixed on you. Help me to fall deeper in love with you and the thought of Your return to so empower me that my daily activities are transformed by that realization. Amen.

My Top CCM Songs of 2016

                             My Top CCM Songs of 2016

  Okay, here goes. My top 50 Christian songs of the year. I would preface this by saying that very few of these have made it to the radio for three reasons. 1. I may have weird tastes 2. Once they make it to the radio they are so overplayed that I get sick of them  3. I like to introduce people to less promoted artists. I think people like Mercy Me, Casting Crowns, Tenth Avenue North, Lauren Daigle, are way over-hyped. Let them garner their Dove Awards and CCM praise elsewhere which they will. Also, I don't get into gospel music, much R&B, hard rock so they won't be well represented. However I do include praise and worship songs which I would say is somewhat unique to end of year lists.


1. Live it Well - Switchfoot      Even radio couldn't wear this one out. This is my life motto; "life is short; live it well"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov_lnXy7tkQ

2. Money and Fame - Needtobreathe   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQ9lU1nqpQ

3. Runnin'  - RelientK   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_9Q2wSe8VA  Welcome back RelientK. Not sure you've landed back on solid ground yet, but love this song.

4. Heroes - Digital Age  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpUR1Jvck9I

5. Holy Water - Switchfoot    It's really a tossup between any Switchfoot song  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpzyjZtjxzg

6. Hard Love - Needtobreathe   Ditto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bhKo1z0Jz0

7.  Best is Yet to Come - Group1Crew   How can you argue with a song title like that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgEYeXcUuAA

8. Resurrecting - Elevation Worship  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8Zzn4nOzc  Best worship song of the year

9. Run Devil, Run - Crowder  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US1-R-R9lYQ  Cheesy, but I love it.

10. Come Up - Remedy Drive  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jYTgV332t4

11. Hold My Forever - Pearl City Worship  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeFLsY9MZAw

12. Where the Light Shines Through - Switchfoot  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNP_Du9dSB0

13. Love Changes Everything - Red Rocks Worship  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXWRxDjsEXQ&list=PLJ0WCsSHTz0D0o19KJauwvXBzM-G1Qqd1

14. Friend of the Groom - Dogs of Peace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZPdHuqfEE4  retro 70's Christian music. Good stuff!

15. Across the Universe - Mosaic MSC  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC36uwVbo-M

16. Love With Your Life - Hollyn  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfVetZeaxuc

17. Love is Action - Tauren Wells  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCnsiP8atW0 
          radio is trying to wear #16,#17 out, that's why they have dropped this far

18. Set My Heart - Vertical Church Band  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pMqbDAEP0

19. Sinking Deep - V.Rose  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_peXUfPLGE  Breakout album for V.Rose. I would say female vocalist of the year although everyone else in the universe would say Lauren Daigle. This song reminds me of Plumb.

20. He's the Light of the World - Dogs of Peace  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BJnW8nQ5T8  Take the time machine back 45 years, turn on Christian radio and this is what you hear.Oh wait, there was no Christian Radio.

21. This We Know - Vertical Church Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_G-JQGqUl0 Best Worship band of the year.

22. Shouting Ground - Crowder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VSmlvAHOAA

23 Live on Forever - The Afters  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdS7EWMNrWc

24. If the House Burns Down Tonight - Switchfoot  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS7jlWG5Dlw  Too soon to play this in Gatlinburg

25. Be Here Long - Needtobreathe  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNL1Ei9kYyA

26. Down in Flames - Matthew Parker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQHmAQoeTEA

27. Writing on the Wall - Paper Route https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic8YJ0mRYEk

28. Set Me Ablaze - Bryan and Katie Torwalt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ca9W1VSx24

29. All I Have - Stars Go Dim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN0vzTrQzqY&list=RDZN0vzTrQzqY    Pillar????

30. How Sweet it Is - Digital Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U0VASEmvHQ

31. Local Construction - RelientK  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaddAGw0dc8

32. Balconies - Paper Route https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fFkQ0M-TPY

33. Wake Me Up (Amnesia) Group1Crew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvYAh6wvR-o

34. Palaces - Love & the Outcome  (no link??? - listen on Spotify)

35. This is the Life - Tommy Saint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGagiNpgDw4&list=PLVtgYtJUiPbzZV5XVxOFtRP3ne7HPpB9F

36.  I See the Lord - Vertical Church Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOiTOqFy4_s

37. Open the Clouds - Unspoken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y555d2j9RY

38. Galaxies - Digital Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtwVHN9X_FU

39. On Again off Again - Group1Crew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRv8b-kI1k

40.  Bottom to the Top - V.Rose   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKbcW1nilaI

41. Born to Live - About A Mile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Xwe6H3lJ4

42. Ends of the Earth - Love & the Outcome  - (no link??? check Spotify)

43. Wherever I Go - One Republic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jclnm-0ktHM

44. Exalted Over All - Vertical Church Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqnRj1N4blA

45. Give it Time - Zach Bolen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjdlrUYsaek  Remember Dire Straits?

46. Don't Fear - Flame feat. V.Rose   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiS3UJ_UIOk

47. Push - Thousand Foot Krutch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiS3UJ_UIOk

48. Hope - John Tibbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiS3UJ_UIOk

49. Stolen - Nine Lashes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TzbOF-bLKs

50. Keep Me - Crowder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uxh063IdT0

Thoughts From Luke - Day 59

                                                      Luke 12:24-34

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


             As the new year approaches, this is a good time to regroup, reassess, take inventory, self analyze, reflect on who am I, what am I living for, what motivates me, what consumes me, and what worries me, and then make some adjustments. We are told in this passage that there is one thing that should be filling our minds and that is the Kingdom of God. This is the reality outside our reality that takes faith (vs.28) to know it is there. Are you living for The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Earth? Am I?

            I love movies that illustrate this fact. There are two off hand that I think of, The Truman Show and The Matrix. In the Truman Show a concept for a TV show is cooked up where a central character is raised from birth in a huge dome with actors playing parents, friends, co-workers, wife, towns people,etc., and the whole fascination is watching this guy grow up not knowing everyone is watching him, while thinking that this is the real world. They can only keep the secret so long until Truman starts getting inklings that there is something else outside his reality and he is so consumed with this that he nearly dies trying to find it but finally does and leaves his bubble. The Matrix is similar in that all of humanity is trapped in little pods from which the computers generate electricity to run as they have artificial intelligence and have taken over the world. In order to keep the humans in this state, their minds are hooked into this make believe world called the Matrix where they they "live" and think is real. Some have figured out that there is a reality outside their reality, have broken out of their pods, and seek to find others in the Matrix that are also questioning that there may be a reality outside this reality.

         It fascinates me that some in Hollywood have stumbled on the fact that there is a "world" outside our world, which is called The Kingdom of God. There is a king called Jesus who came into our world to make a way to deliver us out of the world in which we are living, and living as if this were the ultimate reality. In this world, the goal is comfort, ease, relaxation, pleasure - and we get this with money. Therefore if you work hard, make wise investments, marry well or are lucky enough to be born into wealth or power, you will have a good life. If you don't have or do any of the above, you will have a bad life and be looked down on and be miserable and hate those who have more. This is the reality that people living on this Earth have bought into whether they admit it or not. Jesus came, and we as those who have "figured it out", to tell those on this Earth that there is a reality outside this fake reality controlled by Satan, that we can be delivered into. We don't leave this Earth - like Truman - but walk among everyone else having been given the Spirit from above inside of us, and live for totally different goals - we live to please our God and don't worry about money, stuff, pleasure, ease, comfort, etc. because we have all that waiting for us for all eternity when we leave this planet. Our needs are met by our king until the day we die at which time we go to the ultimate reality where we are children of the king and live forever in pleasures forevermore.

          As we take inventory of ourselves at the end of the year, look at your finances. Where is the bulk of your money going - toward pleasure, comfort, ease, and amassing buffers to prevent the loss of those - or is it going towards bringing people into the kingdom and helping those who are suffering in the injustices of this world. Are we amassing or maintaining. Our we grasping tightly to our money with both hands clenched or are we holding God's money with an open hand allowing it to come in and go out. One thing I plan on doing before the end of the year is to go through my checkbook and look at my charitable donations. Normally I do this the following year nearing tax time, and then I think," I am giving more next year." This is "next year". I need to give intentionally not haphazardly. What about you??

My Top 10 Christian Albums of 2016

                                     My Top 10 Christian Albums of 2016

         As usual there were plenty of other great albums put out this year like One Republic, Judah and the Lion, Ben Rector, JohnnySwim, Paper Route, Gawvi,  who are professed Christians but, although may have some spirituality in their albums, have put out albums that wouldn't be perceived as Christian per se (by my definition). Therefore they aren't included in my list. So here goes..

10.

 probably wins best cover of the year. A throwback to early 70's Christian rock when it all began. Love this.

9.



         This is the year of the worship album, or else it's just that our church finally started a contemporary worship service and I am not denying myself of this music anymore to keep me from being discontent. Anyway, Mosaic MSC has some outstanding songs.

8.

        Matthew Parker put out a great album here. Unfortunately, the songs aren't "Christian" enough (by my definition since it's my blog) to put up higher. Maybe as I listen closer, I will analyze the lyrics more and move it up.

7.

 

Just when I thought RelientK was dead, after their last terrible less than Christian album, they return to their old greatness - although not as overtly Christian as their older works which are classics. That's why I can't rank it higher although quality wise it certainly deserves a higher ranking.

 

6.

 

Vertical Church Worship Band is the worship band of the year with this album. There were multiple other great efforts with Chris Tomlin, Passion, Brian & Katie Torwalt, Elevation worship, and Mosaic MSC, but this album surpasses them all.

 

5.

 

The Digital Age, David Crowder's back up band, put out their second album. Although arguably not as good as their first one, still good enough to make #5. Not included on this is their recording sessions of "Oceans" which is really good. Check it out on YouTube

 

4.

 

Group 1 Crew was one of my most anticipated releases this year because they seem to keep improving both individually and collectively. This album didn't disappoint with a number of good, catchy, radio friendly songs.

 

3.

 

Did, I mention David Crowder? His second album has found his style. He feels more comfortable in this album than his first and this one incorporates a little rock and rap with his hillbilly style. Good stuff. A lot of other years this would have been #1. But... 

 

2.

 

Needtobreathe put out a classic with Hard Love. Probably the most talented Christian band that has tremendous cross-over appeal is, in my view, hampered only by their lack of boldness for Christ in their lyrics, concerts, and interviews.

 

1.

 

They just keep getting better. Bold lyrics and still crossover appeal. Nothing else was close to this.